The Cape Codder Letters

Friday

Nov 9, 2018 at 3:01 AM

Letters Policy

Letters must include the writer's name, daytime phone number and home address, and can be up to 300 words. Any letter that does not include a phone number for verification purposes will not be considered. Letters about local issues or those relevant to the Cape Cod region always get priority; letters about national politics are assigned a low priority based on space availability. Deadline for letters is 2 p.m., Tuesday (this may change on a holiday week) and should be e-mailed to managing editor Donna Tunney at dtunney@wickedlocal.com. Guest commentaries, up to 500 words, are welcome on a space-available basis. Email the editor or call 774-722-1160 to discuss submitting a commentary.

COMMUNITY EFFORT

Members of the Nauset Fellowship thank everyone who contributed to the restoration and renovation of the Chapel in the Pines in Eastham.

First, the residents of Eastham who adopted the Community Preservation Act, which has benefited our town in so many ways. Without this act and the support of the Community Preservation Committee and town meeting we, as a small organization, could never have mustered the resources needed to maintain and preserve for future generations this beloved and historic building.

We also thank the hundreds of generous donors who responded to our fundraising campaign and the Friends of the Eastham Library and Eastham Painters Guild for holding a benefit art auction last December. We also thank architect Peter MacDonald and contractor M.J. Nardone and all of the workers who contributed their talents to completing this restoration effort.

As a result, we now have a building that is not only beautiful and adds to Eastham’s historic charm, but is more useable not only by our Fellowship, but all members of the community.

Please join us Saturday night, Nov. 17, at 5:30 p.m., as we hold our traditional community potluck Thanksgiving Dinner and celebrate the completion of the chapel’s restoration.

Everyone is invited but we need to know how many of you will attend and what you will bring (turkeys will be provided). Seating is limited, so reservations are required. Please RSVP to Judith.Whitney@gmail.com.

Bob Seay

President Nauset Fellowship

FIX THE PLUMBING

Stephen Smith and other experienced fishermen have been urging town officials to obtain emergency maintenance dredging permits for Nauset Harbor to remove sand shoals, which have built up over decades of neglect.

Nauset lnlet has migrated two miles northward into Eastham from its location in the 1950s below Nauset Heights. Navigation from Town Cove to the Atlantic has become a long and hazardous journey, according to Mr. Smith.

The shoaling is not only a danger to fishermen and recreational boating, but it restricts tidal flushing leading to poor water quality in Town Cove.

The cove is deeper than the shallow channel, blocking tidal action and causing stagnation and accumulation of pollutants and decaying vegetation in the bottom sediments (WHOI report to selectmen, 11/1983).

Once a maintenance dredging project is completed, and maintained, something that should have been done decades ago, before sewering took over town planning, there will be safer conditions, cleaner water, and increased commercial and recreational boating.

Stephen Smith said, "Let's fix the plumbing first!"

Town officials can then plan for additional cluster system infrastructure if needed.

Mary Hartley Orleans

CRIME WORRIES

So far the voters in Orleans, Chatham, Harwich, Dennis, Yarmouth, Sandwich, Falmouth and Bourne have banned the sale of recreational marijuana.

Here in Wellfleet the selectmen have approved host community agreements for three pot shops, and two more may be forthcoming.

When listening to a talk radio show quite some time ago, I was shocked when someone on it stated that there would be so few pot shops on the Cape those seeking to buy it would be traveling to Wellfleet.

Now, since about 70 percent of the homes in Wellfleet are vacant during the off-season perhaps some of those coming here from parts unknown to buy their recreational pot will do some "recreational breaking and entering" while they're here.

One-stop-shopping, of sorts. After all, according to a nearly three-year study in Denver (source: Ohio State University), legal marijuana shops are linked to higher levels of property crime in nearby areas.

Keep in mind that a majority of the homes in Denver are occupied year-round. Unlike Wellfleet. Uh-oh.

Mike Rice

Wellfleet

SLEEPING BEAUTY

It seems that there is a group of people who want to ban the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty" because the prince assaulted "Beauty"when he kissed her without her permission, as she was drugged. It seems that the prince felt that because he was a powerful prince he could do whatever he wanted with women. But "Beauty" is filing a lawsuit for assault.

Now there are others joining "Beauty" in her effort to bring the prince down: Miss Piggy, Bo-Beep, Jill (of bucket fame), Mary (the contrary one), and Dorothy (of Wizard renown). They all accuse the prince of molesting them, and I believe them because they said so.

The only thing more ridiculous than the title, Atlantic Human Conservancy, are the quotes various attendees gave such as “I feel infringed on my right (to go to the beach) by a lesser animal,” or “this species (seals) is throwing off the balance with other things in the ocean.”

Those seals are just overpopulating a bit, something we humans find no fault in doing along with over-development, which pushes out so much wildlife. They are in their home, and as much as we want it to be ours, it never will be.

Seals are not eating all the fish either. Many years ago fishing was a fair game, and the trade could be passed on to many generations. Now, with bigger, stronger boats, all kinds of sonar and radar, and bigger nets, the fish stand no chance to reproduce.

It all boils down to one thing...unequivocal, insatiable human greed. Leave the seals and sharks to do what they were created to do.